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Farmer dies after tractor he was driving tipped over backward.

A 64-year-old male farmer (victim) died of injuries sustained when the tractor he was driving tipped over backward. The victim used a two-wheel drive farm tractor to pack soil at a farm construction site. The tractor was not equipped with a rollover protective structure or a general purpose enclosed cab. Prior to construction of a barn and a manure pit, workers from a local excavation company moved clay from a nearby hill to the construction site. After clay was spread over the site in layers approximately six inches thick, the victim used a farm tractor to compact each layer of clay. The site grade was raised approximately four feet and resulted in an embankment with a steep slope. After the level surface area had been compacted, the victim began to compact the embankment by repeatedly driving the tractor down and backing it up the embankment. A few minutes before the incident, with the tractor at the bottom of the embankment, the victim turned it around and began driving up and backing down the embankment. He traversed the sloped area in this manner several times as he continued to compact the embankment. While he drove up the embankment, the front wheels of the tractor raised off of the ground and it tipped over backward. It came to rest upside down and pinned the victim beneath the tractor seat and the steering wheel. The operator of a caterpillar being used to move the clay immediately noticed the overturned tractor and ran to the scene but was unable to aid the victim. He went to the farm house and requested that emergency personnel be called to the scene. Emergency personnel arrived at the scene shortly after they were notified, removed the tractor from the victim and pronounced him dead at the scene. MN FACE investigators concluded that to reduce the likelihood of similar occurrences, the following guidelines should be followed: 1. all tractors should be equipped with a rollover protective structure and a seat belt; and 2. operators of tractors should only back up or drive down inclined grades.